Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Campin', Fishin', Hikin', Burnin'

I'm sorry. I don't know why it is, but I always have to use the apostrophe instead of the G's in those words. Anyway, I did all of those things yesterday and today. (Well, the last one was done to me by the sun.) I really love camping, and I really really love fishing. I've been wanting to go camping since this last winter, and now that summer is almost over I finally got to do it. We went to southern Utah and camped in the Boulder Mountain area. We fished at a couple different lakes. Yesterday we fished at the lake near where we camped called Lower Bowns Reservoir. It was AWESOME. I caught about 10 fish in just a few hours of fishing. They were all about 9-13 inch rainbows, so there wasn't much variety, but it was dry-fly fly fishing at its best. I love it. I also got to don my waders for the first time this year. (Except for the fly fishing winter disaster mentioned around the beginning of this blog in March-ish.) After a frigid night in a tent, we decided to go to Oak Creek Reservoir which is at the top of a two and half mile road. I use the term road, but the street sign called it a "primitive road." In other words, unless your vehicle is a mountain climber, do not pass go, do not collect $200. So we hiked up there. (Impressively, my 2 nephews made it up there and back down in good shape, including Jacob who's just 6. He let us know it was hard for him, but he was a trooper.) I caught zero fish. I was, however, glad to have done the hike, and I still had an enjoyable time. My dad and his friend Lyle caught quite a few brook trout. So there's the short of the trip regarding the first three verbs in the title of this post. As for the fourth, OUCH!!! My skin is pretty fair, and burns very easily in the sun. I tend to look bright red after a day in the sun. (Hence many jokes from my friends and family including: I look like a lobster, I'm Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (my nose is usually included in all the burning), and my personal favorite, I don't get sun burned, I get sun RAPED!) My hands look like I'm wearing red gloves right now, and my neck is highly uncomfy, but I'm fine. Unfortunately, I probably have skin cancer in my future.

Well, there was my summer adventure. I'm glad I got to have a good one. I'm tuckered out!Pics:We climbed to the top of some red rock formations. (This is me and my nephews Jacob and Ryan.)Me with Oak Creek Reservoir. It was a fun hike. Long, but beautiful country. This would be a beautiful picture, if there wasn't that ugly lake in it. (Oh, and I'm not wearing my hat backwards to be cool, it was my failed attempt at shading my neck.)My bro Jake with my nephews. At Oak Creek Reservoir.